Free Pattern (knit): Pigtail Toque

Fall is here and is approaching the gift-giving season! I have a tendency to leave making Christmas gifts toward the end of the year, mainly because the rest of the year is so hectic with keeping up inventory, commission work, costuming, keeping up with the farm, and other pursuits. Quick things to make are fantastic if you do that, too!

So I've decided to decommission my coffee cup patterns and make them freely available. (Though I will be doing a giveaway for the physical cups in December for the last six in stock, so stay tuned!)

Without further ado, here is the first pattern, the Pigtail Toque (pronounced "took").

The pictured hat above was made with 140 yards of light worsted weight Merino handspun yarn on size 8 needles with approximately 3 yards for the corner tassels. If you have more yarn than that, you can make a longer hat, longer pigtails, or attach braids to either side!

As a note, 140 yards is made with less than most of what my skeins of handspun yarn measure. This is perfect for those little luxury skeins you might have around as well.

The hat is knit side to side in stockinette stitch, beginning and ending with 10 rows of 1x1 ribbing. It is then folded together and sewn up the sides.

If you are so inclined, you can instead knit this hat in the round, casting on double the number of stitches, then finishing at the top with a kitchener stitch or binding off and whip-stitching the top closed.

This hat also works great in other weights of yarn, or even funky thick&thin styles! Just be sure to increase or decrease the number of stitches to account for the size difference. If you are unsure, you can knit a swatch and calculate how many stitches you need from there.

Materials:

• 140 yards light worsted weight yarn
  

• US size 8 (5 mm) knitting needles
  

• Yarn needle for finishing sides or top
  

• Small piece of cardboard, tassel maker, or pom-pom maker for making corner embellishments

Directions:

CO 48 sts.

R1-10: K1, P1 for 10 rows.

R11 (RS): Knit.

R12 (WS): Purl.

Rep R11-12 for at least 17".

Rep R1-10.

Bind off in K1, P1 pattern.

Fold in half, right sides together, to match up the ribbed band. Sew up the sides. Turn inside out.

Options:

1. Using a tassel maker, pom-pom maker, or cardboard, create 2 tassels of pom-poms and attach to each of the top corners.
   

2. Create 2 braids from the remaining yarn in a length you prefer, and sew to the top corners of the hat.

Have fun with the possibilities!

Enjoying the blog? Please feel free to share! Or buy me a "coffee" using the link below. Patterns on this site may not be distributed for profit, but you may make and sell the finished item. I only ask that you give credit and provide a link back to my site. This is how we can all help each other!